Recently, the Biden administration released its new Title IX rules, which did not please many conservatives.
That would include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is adamant that Florida will not comply with the new rules.
Talking Points…
- Biden new Title IX rules
- DeSantis defiant
- Analysis
Every administration has the opportunity to reveal its interpretation of Title IX. The Biden administration has finally announced its rules, which will go into effect in August. As we would have expected, Biden has rolled back many of the Trump-era rules. Biden also added extra measures to protect gender identity in a nod to transgenders.
Among other changes, the Biden administration reinstated protections that were in place regarding sexual assault and harassment. It also added protections for LGBTQ+ students. The one issue that Biden did not address was transgender students in women's sports, which most believe he will address after the election to avoid any controversy on this subject that could negatively impact Biden on election day. After the new rules were announced, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona stated:
"These final regulations build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation's students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights."
Just as we expected the changes made by Biden, we also expected Governor Ron DeSantis to continue to fight this administration's "woke" policies. Ron DeSantis may be out of the presidential election, but he continues to build his conservative profile, looking forward to the 2028 race. DeSantis has had no problem taking on the federal government when it comes to overreaching state governing, and he is doing it again here. After the new rules were announced, DeSantis stated:
"Florida rejects [President Biden's] attempt to rewrite Title IX. We will not comply, and we will fight back.
"We are not gonna let Joe Biden try to inject men into women's activities. We are not gonna let Joe Biden undermine the rights of parents, and we are not gonna let Joe Biden abuse his constitutional authority to try to impose these policies on us here in Florida."
The video of DeSantis making that announcement blew up on social media, with his supporters screaming at Iowa for voting for Trump instead of DeSantis, as well as touting the fact that DeSantis continues to deliver while everyone else talks about making a difference. The video also blew up on the left, but for entirely different reasons. For instance, The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group, has issued a travel warning regarding Florida, stating:
"Taken in their totality, Florida's slate of laws and policies targeting basic freedoms and rights pose significant risk to the health and safety of many considering relocation and/or temporary travel to the state."
Brandon Wolf, the national press secretary for the HRC, added:
"These MAGA politicians are choosing theatrics and hateful rhetoric over protecting and furthering the needs of their state's students.
"Refusing to comply with Title IX could have damaging consequences for schools, including significant loss in funding on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars — dollars that should be going to helping young people achieve academic excellence. That appears to be a sacrifice that those whose only priorities are themselves and their own political profiles are willing to make."
This is setting up a big showdown between the Biden and DeSantis administrations. In fact, the Biden administration has already floated cutting federal funding to Florida if DeSantis holds true to his promise. And let's be realistic here, the LGBTQ+ community is not having any issues in Florida, as anyone who has been to visit the state can attest.
What DeSantis is trying to do is protect women's sports and trying to protect children from predators, and I think most parents would support that. He is blocking people who will use Biden's new regulations in a nefarious way, nothing more. We all saw what happened before when DeSantis took on the federal government, and I would expect a similar result this time.
